Mats' first day under house arrest with ankle monitor for illegal journalism

On Wednesday, Mats Dagerlind began serving his prison sentence in the form of house arrest with an ankle monitor. The sentence was imposed because he, in his role as former editor-in-chief of Samnytt, was convicted of illegal journalism following the newspaper’s reporting on the legal process between the Hate Speech Investigator Tomas Åberg and freelance journalist Joakim Lamotte.
“It is humiliating to be labeled as a criminal,” says Mats.

In January this year, the Supreme Court denied Mats Dagerlind leave to appeal regarding a defamation case that Tomas Åberg, the man behind the taxpayer-funded so-called Hate Speech Investigator, had brought as a private prosecution.

Thus, a verdict against Samnytt’s former editor-in-chief was confirmed: one month in prison for gross defamation. In Stockholm District Court, a jury acquitted Dagerlind on ten out of thirteen counts, but he was convicted on three counts along with the court’s legal experts.

The most serious charge is classified as gross defamation, and relates to the coverage of the legal process between Tomas Åberg and Joakim Lamotte in January 2023.

The court considers that Samnytt, by publishing a screenshot of a court document in one of the articles, provided its readers with illegally extensive information about the legal process between Åberg and Lamotte.

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“Humiliating to be labeled a criminal”

Mats, a veteran in alternative media journalism, has been with Samnytt since the beginning and has previously been involved in media projects such as Avpixlat and Politiskt Inkorrekt – with the goal of giving the Swedish people an honest and uncensored picture of reality in Sweden. Now he feels that the state is trying to silence him and Samnytt through the judgments directed at the newspaper’s journalistic activities.

“It is humiliating to be labeled as a criminal when all I have done is conduct what should be completely ordinary news journalism,” says Mats, continuing:

“The penalty was prison, but as a first-time offender, one can serve the sentence with an ankle monitor because the prisons are overcrowded with gang criminals.”

On March 19, government personnel came to Mats’ home to, on behalf of the state, restrict his freedom by installing monitoring equipment in the residence and thus controlling his days. From today and for the next month, there is a unit in the home that registers signals from the ankle monitor Mats now wears around his leg.

“I am monitored 24 hours a day by the state, I am not allowed to leave the residence except at specified times and for specified purposes. At any time – even in the middle of the night – I can receive home visits and be forced to provide breath, urine, and blood samples. I have to provide the urine sample with the toilet door open while the Probation Service’s representative stands and watches.”

The equipment at Mats’ home. Photo: Samnytt

The reason government personnel must stand and watch Mats at the toilet is to ensure that he does not take drugs or drink alcohol – not even a light beer is allowed. For Mats’ part, the Probation Service prevents him from taking medication for cancer pain.

“I am not even allowed to take the medications for my cancer pain that I have been prescribed by a doctor because they are narcotics, and I have to manage with paracetamol.”

Miss a call – police pick-up and prison

During the serving of the prison sentence for illegal journalism, Mats can continue his cancer care in the form of physiotherapy, TENS treatment, and regular exercise at the gym. But if he misses an appointment, a check-up, or a phone call from the state, the Police Authority will intervene to arrest Mats and take him to a correctional facility.

“It is a treatment of journalists that was previously associated with totalitarian countries. But now Sweden also joins the ranks of countries that throw inconvenient journalists in prison.”

Now the ankle monitor is mounted and the state monitors Mats’ movements. Photo: Samnytt

The journey begins again

The house arrest marks the end of a protracted legal process that Mats and others at Samnytt’s editorial office have handled, but it is only one completed case. In parallel with the sentence, another legal process is now ongoing, and Mats wants to tell the readers that if he is convicted there, a real prison sentence awaits, which cannot be converted to house arrest.

“We have another similar case in court, where a repeatedly convicted climate extremist in the group Restore Wetlands has sued us for defamation because we have highlighted his and his accomplices’ illegal activities to stop traffic by gluing themselves to the streets.”

“If I am also convicted there, it will be real prison. There is a three-year probation period after serving time with an ankle monitor before one can get it again.”

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Support Mats Dagerlind and Samnytt

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Mats recently participated in an interview with Riks where he commented on his sentence and the development in Sweden where journalists are now being imprisoned.